In the early 1960s the Middle East suffered from political instability, inefficiency of government, widespread poverty and inequality, low productivity, and a mounting population pressure on the region’s resources. With the exception of some of the oil-exporting countries, the entire region still suffers from these same burdens. There have been many studies in the economic development and industrialization of the region in recent years. This study is different, motivated by scepticism and a sense of intellectual frustration and apprehension because of the apparent inadequacy of socioeconomic and political development in the Middle East. First published in 1987.

Published in 1988, Essays on the Economic History of the Middle East is a valuable contribution to the field of Middle Eastern Studies.

The economic history of the Middle East and North Africa is quite extraordinary. This is an axiomatic statement, but the very nature of the economic changes that have stemmed directly from the effects of oil resources in these areas has tended to obscure longterm patterns of economic change and the fundamental transformation of Middle Eastern and North African economies and societies over the past two hundred years. In this study Professor Issawi examines and explains the development of these economies since 1800, focusing particularly on the challenge posed by the use and subsequent decline of Western economic and political domination and the Middle Eastern response to it. The book beg ins with an analysis of the effects of foreign intervention in the area: the expansion of trade, the development of transport networks, the influx of foreign capital and resulting integration into international commercial and financial networks. It goes on to examine the local response to these external forces: migration within, to and from the region, population growth, urbanization and changes in living standards, shifts in agricultural production and land tenure and the development of an industrial sector. Professor Issawi discusses the crucial effects of the growth of oil and oil-related industries in a separate chapter, and finally assesses the likely gains and losses in this long period for both the countries in the area and the Western powers. He has drawn on long experience and an immense amount of material in surveying the period, and provides a clear and penetrating survey of an extraordinarily complex area.

An account of the politics of the Middle East over the last 50 years. It is an attempt to make sense of the Middle East in the New World Order.

First published in 1986, the research for this book was originally undertaken by the authors at The Futures Group for the Office of Technology Assessment. This study assesses technology trade from the perspective of the competing supplier countries. This group was defined to include the United States, Japan, and Western Europe. Six Middle Eastern countries were selected for detailed review: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

This book looks at trends in military expenditures in Iran during, approximately, the three decades preceding the Islamic revolution of 1979 and their impact on economic growth and development. It focuses on military security policy, which establishes guidelines for military spending decisions.